"Here’s how it works: The top draft positions will be awarded based on points earned after playoff elimination. Once a team is officially out of the playoff race, it starts the clock on amassing points toward its draft position. Bad teams still get an advantage (because they’re eliminated earlier), but now the emphasis is on winning, not just on riding out the string. It’s relatively simple, and it’s brilliant.

You’re telling me you wouldn’t be excited the day the “no. 1 overall pick points” column appeared in the standings? If we were lucky, we could even have late-season showdowns for the top picks. And fans watching those games would actually be cheering for their own teams to win. Imagine that."

The big issue with that "after elimination" idea is the conference difference. A bad West team would get eliminated earlier than an equally bad East team. So they can start collecting points earlier. In a year like this one, you would probably have like 5 West teams fininishing top 5 in the lottery, over many crappier East teams. And then you get an eternal circle. West gets the best picks, they keep having more good teams, their crappy teams keep getting eliminated earlier and earlier, and keep getting the top prospects. Free agency will help the East a little, but overall West will just keep getting better and better. In 10 years, you will probably have a situation where West has 10 50 wins teams and their 30 wins teams collect high lottery picks, while the East is full of crappy teams that struggle to get good prospects.

The big issue with that "after elimination" idea is the conference difference. A bad West team would get eliminated earlier than an equally bad East team. So they can start collecting points earlier. In a year like this one, you would probably have like 5 West teams fininishing top 5 in the lottery, over many crappier East teams. And then you get an eternal circle. West gets the best picks, they keep having more good teams, their crappy teams keep getting eliminated earlier and earlier, and keep getting the top prospects. Free agency will help the East a little, but overall West will just keep getting better and better. In 10 years, you will probably have a situation where West has 10 50 wins teams and their 30 wins teams collect high lottery picks, while the East is full of crappy teams that struggle to get good prospects.

Didn't MLB have a system in the past where the draft alternated, with the NL picking 1-3-5-7-9 etc one year and the AL the next?

The big issue with that "after elimination" idea is the conference difference. A bad West team would get eliminated earlier than an equally bad East team. So they can start collecting points earlier. In a year like this one, you would probably have like 5 West teams fininishing top 5 in the lottery, over many crappier East teams. And then you get an eternal circle. West gets the best picks, they keep having more good teams, their crappy teams keep getting eliminated earlier and earlier, and keep getting the top prospects. Free agency will help the East a little, but overall West will just keep getting better and better. In 10 years, you will probably have a situation where West has 10 50 wins teams and their 30 wins teams collect high lottery picks, while the East is full of crappy teams that struggle to get good prospects.

Good point. Maybe the non playoff teams can get less points for close losses (6 points or less). That way the teams that are already good don't have as much of a chance of getting even better.

There are going to be flaws with any proposed change, mind you.

A key that opens many locks is a master key, but a lock that gets open by many keys is just a shitty lock

My solution would be that all the teams that dont make the playoofs have an equal chance to win the lottery so you wont see teams try to intentionally have the worst record for a better chance at landing #1 pick

"We had to put the ball in Rudy’s hands. He had it going,” Casey said. “DeMar struggled. I think he was 2-for-15 in the first half. Rudy was the only one that really had something rolling with a rhythm. It was one of those nights. If it was DeMar rolling we would have milked him. But tonight it was Rudy and did a great job of carrying us, getting us into overtime

My solution would be that all the teams that dont make the playoofs have an equal chance to win the lottery so you wont see teams try to intentionally have the worst record for a better chance at landing #1 pick

Tanking gets all the press, but an issue that helps drive tanking is concentration of talent, especially premium free agent talent, in a few choice markets. The NBA is fine with that, because for the most part those are the big revenue generators. States with no income taxes have a built-in advantage, as do large markets with numerous endorsement possibilities.

The wheel draft lottery system will help these teams even more than the current system.

A hard cap would help balance the inequities somewhat, but that would also either mean players would as a group see a share of the money they currently make end up in owners pockets if the cap was at the lower end, or with a much higher hard cap, small market teams would still be at a competitive disadvantage.

Which suggests their management was actually trying to win ballgames. That's a problem?

The whole point of the draft is that the worst teams get the chance to pick the better players, it evens out the talent pool and makes the league more competitive. If we start giving away good players to well managed teams (who are good and already have good players)... Well I'm sure I don't have to spell it out for you (your nickname tells me you're a pretty smart guy)

If that was the case, lets just give the heat all the first overall picks for the next 10 years, their management pulled off an impressive feat

A key that opens many locks is a master key, but a lock that gets open by many keys is just a shitty lock